6.4 Relation of the Hotel “Turizmi” with the urban Morpology

From the terrain documentation which was based on photographic assessment and the information from citizens (in the role of informants), the general situation is summarized in the scheme above.

Despite the difficulties in assessing the interventions in hotels, due to privatization and request for privacy, the information gathered served the research to understand their use, their actual physical state and type of property88 .

In relation with 34 Hotels, the results show that 76% are private properties, from which around 50% are functioning as hotel. A percentage of 15% of the buildings still remains public. These hotels correspond to institutional organisms which have adapted the space for administrative use. In less than 10% of the buildings which considered with no property, are included the demolished and the ones with unresolved ownership issues.

Almost 70% of these structures are reconstructed, but only 44% of them have preserved the original structure, the architectural language and principles, whiles the 26% have partially or completely changed their external image. The reconstruction process itself has been a product of privation operations based on individuality, not strategic, inclusive, planned approach.

6.4 Relation of the Hotel “Turizmi” with the urban Morpology

The integration of the hotel with the urban morphology is not a scope in itselfin Socialist Albania, since the primary aim is to identify and discern the presence of the hotel in the widest perspectives of the city. This can be acknowledged by the presence of the hotels along the main roads, in the main city square, crossroads or as a culminating point of an axis.

88 Appendix gives a wider information in tabular form, where the information gathered is initiated with the period of construction of the hotel, location, actual ownership and state of preservation of the original architecture

Figure 66: Modular Diagrams of Position of Hotel Turizmi. Source: Author

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“The new Albturist hotel stands in the center of the city, in the square bearing Çerçiz Topulli's name and his monument. The hotel, which has an architectural design of its own, is furnished with every up-to-date accommodation.” (Albturist, 1969, p. 145.) In most cases, the position of the hotel alters the affirmative hierarchy in the urban context, like in the city squares, where the dominance of the hotel itself serves as a catalysator of the square. Being amplified by the presence of the hotel, which always exceeded the height of other buildings and imposed the grandiosity of its presence.

By evidencing the similarities in their position into the urban fabric, there have been determined 6 modes or relation of the city hotel with the urban morphology.

• The first is the position of hotel in the main axis or boulevard of the city. This ensures the proper visibility and access from the main road. The hotels of

Peshkopia, Shkodra, Kruja and Rreshen as well as Hotel Arbana and Arberia in

Tirana, correspond to this type of emplacement within the city, where generally the longitudinal façade is facing the main axis. • The second situation corresponds to the position of the Hotel into a main crossroad, which is also a preferable one for the time. This installment offers for the hotel also the opportunity to be a landmark since visibility, access and points of perspective are maximized. • Positioning of the hotel in a specific variable landscape site is not so common for the communist hotels, since preferences are related mostly with the central parts of the city, but this position predisposes the panoramic view which is missing in other cases. • Position of the hotel in the main city square is one of the favorites, since it’s integration with other public buildings, creates a homogenous ensemble which represents one of the best ways for transmitting the ideologic dogma. In the cities of Permet, Puka, Berat, Elbasan, Erseke and in the capital, Tirana, the

Hotel is noticeable from each point of the square. • In most cases, the position of the hotel can be mounted in a combined situation which is mostly with the presence of the axis and main crossroad, square and